Bookish Ambitions: A Books and Adaptation Podcast

Twilight, Millennial Nostalgia, & The Off-Campus Easter Egg

We made it to 10 episodes and we are celebrating with the most important deep dive we could think of. This week we're talking Twilight — book one, movie one, and all the feelings. We cover why Twilight hit so differently for millennials, the Mormon lens Stephenie Meyer brought to her vampires, why Edward Cullen is absolutely a red flag and why we loved him anyway, the iconic blue tint and what it actually meant cinematically, Robert Pattinson reading Midnight Sun to find his character, Taylor Lautner fighting for his role, Anna Kendrick pretending she was never there, and the Off-Campus Easter egg that broke our brains. Plus: Catherine just finished watching it twenty minutes before recording and has thoughts. This is episode one of many. We have too much to say about each film to do it all at once. Consider this your Twilight re-entry point. For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode — plus links to find them — visit our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

Margo's Got Money Troubles, Motherhood & Double Standards

We read it. We watched it. We have a lot of thoughts, and some of them got personal. This week, we're doing a full book versus show breakdown of Margo's Got Money Troubles — the novel by Rufi Thorpe and the Apple TV series starring Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Marcia Gay Harden, and Nicole Kidman. We talk about what the show changed and why, why Caroline loved the book more than the show, why the show got heavier than either of us expected, the double standard around sex work and creative agency, and the single motherhood conversation we really needed to have. Also: Caroline is deep in her first round of edits and possibly spiraling a little; Catherine is racing to finish Masters of Death before book club; Off-Campus season two starts filming in a week, and we could not be more ready. For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention in this episode — plus links to find them —visit our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

Off-Campus, The Deal by Elle Kennedy & College Romance Tropes

We watched Off-Campus so you didn't have to — except you absolutely should. This week, we're doing a full book versus show breakdown of Elle Kennedy's The Deal and the new Amazon Prime series Off-Campus. We talk about what they kept, what they changed, why most of the changes were actually the right call, the locker room consent conversation that made us want to stand up and applaud, Hannah's mom scene that had us both emotional, and why Caroline likes the show better than the book. We also get into college romance tropes, how the market has evolved since 2015, and what we're hoping season two does differently. For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention in this episode — plus links to find them — to visit our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BookishAmbitions

Book News, Casting Drama & Adaptation Overload

We warned you there was a lot of book news. We were not wrong. This week we're back after a little break (life happened, end of April is a lot, we have no further notes) and we are diving straight into the biggest list of book and adaptation news we've ever put together. New books from Rebecca Yarros and John Green, a Star Wars romance, a new Divergent book nobody asked for, Greta Gerwig doing Narnia, The Odyssey with a cast that broke our brains, Heartstopper Forever finally has a release date, Princess Diaries 3 is really happening, and we have very strong feelings about the Beach Read casting. Also: Caroline is 50,000 words into her novel, read Funny Story and cried, and powered through The Deal so you don't have to (you're welcome). Catherine is deep in a Star Wars romance novel and has zero regrets. For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode — plus links to find them — visit our Patreon: http://patreon.com/bookishambitions

Howl's Moving Castle, Studio Ghibli & The Animation Renaissance

We are talking about one of our all-time favorite films this week and we are not calm about it. This week: Caroline finished Margo's Got Money Troubles and finally has Beach Read in hand, Anne Hathaway's production company bought the rights to a book before it was even published (we have questions), Jamie Dornan is reportedly playing Strider in the new Lord of the Rings film (we have thoughts), and then we dive headfirst into Howl's Moving Castle — the book, the Studio Ghibli film, Miyazaki's anti-war statement, Sophie's curse as an unexpected act of liberation, Billy Crystal as Calcifer, and the Sarah J. Maas connection we did not see coming. Also: the Kiki's Delivery Service re-release just broke box office records and Disney is reportedly bringing back 2D animation. The animation renaissance is real and we are here for it. For a full list of every book, show, and movie we mention this episode visit our Patreon: http://pateron.com/bookishambitions